A Mother's Love
by IWontGrowUp
Summary: Emma wakes up with a stabbing pain in her stomach, and her parents have to take her to the hospital. Charming Family Feels
1. Chapter 1

Emma awoke from her deep slumber moaning at the sharp pain in her stomach. She twisted and turned to try to find a comfortable sleeping position but could not find any way to sleep that lessened the terrible pain.

"Shit," she said.

She attempted to slow her breathing to calm herself down, but nothing was working. The slow breaths did nothing to numb the pain.

Emma moaned as she tried desperately to soothe herself, but the pain was only growing stronger. It felt like a knife was stabbing her in the stomach and twisting at every movement she tried to make. She didn't want to wake her mother, but she felt as though she may have no other option. This was starting to get bad. Emma had never experienced anything this painful before, not even when she was in labor with Henry.

_I can't wake her,_ thought Emma. _She'll think I'm weak._

_No, she understands. She knows I'm strong, right?_

_This hurts so badly. _

_Make it stop. Make it stop. Make it stop._

The words became a mantra in her head. She finally decided it was time to wake up her mother. She tried to sit up, but found that it only exacerbated the pain. She attempted to push through it and let out a scream.

Snow awoke with a start. She heard a scream… Emma? What was wrong with her daughter?

She quickly crawled out of bed and frantically ran up the stairs to Emma's room only to find her daughter sitting up in bed, gritting her teeth with her arms wrapped around her stomach. She let out a few whimpers, and Snow was at her side in an instant.

"Shhh," Snow coaxed. "It's alright. You're going to be alright, Emma"

Snow rubbed soothing circles on her back as Emma continued to grit her teeth in pain.

"What hurts?"

"My stomach," said Emma through her teeth, trying not to let another cry escape her lips. "It feels like someone is stabbing me. I don't know how long I can take this."

"You're going to be okay, Emma. Just breathe. Can you do that for me? Try to breathe."

Emma closed her eyes and once again tried to take a slow, deep breath. As she inhaled, a pain even worse than before tore through her stomach. She screamed again.

"Okay. It's okay, Emma. It's going to be okay. We need to get you to the hospital, alright?"

Emma shook her head. "No," she said with the little defiance she had left in her. "I can't go to the hospital. I just can't. I'm not that sick. It doesn't hurt that bad."

A few seconds later, Charming ran into the room. "What's going on?" he asked as he ran to Emma's side next to Snow.

"She said her stomach feels like she's being stabbed. Charming, she's in a lot of pain right now."

Charming saw the concerned look on his wife's face. She was clearly scared. No, she was terrified. What mother wouldn't be? Her strong daughter who was always able to hide her pain, no matter how intense was screaming in agony. For Emma to scream it had to be absolutely terrible. Both Snow and Charming knew it.

"Okay," said Charming with conviction. "Emma, we're going to take you to the hospital, okay?"

Emma shook her head again and started to argue, but another pain ripped through her stomach as she let out a wail.

Charming immediately scooped his daughter into his arms. Snow draped the blanket over her and grabbed an extra change of clothes for Emma as they made their way down to the car.

Charming carefully laid Emma down in the backseat. Snow opened the door closest to her head and sat in the back with her, laying Emma's head on her lap as she stroked Emma softly and pushed the now sweaty hair away from her face. Emma moaned softly and twisted her face as the pains continued to tear through her stomach.

Charming climbed into the front seat of the car and looked back at his wife and daughter. He saw that Snow had tears in her eyes as she watched Emma writhe in pain. "It'll be okay," he said, looking at Emma. "It'll be okay." His gaze moved to meet Snow's eyes. She looked so broken and hopeless. He turned around, put the keys in the ignition, and started the car.

"It'll be okay."


	2. Chapter 2

***So sorry this took me almost two months to update! I've been incredibly busy with college applications, theater productions, and film adventures. The next update should not take more than a few days. Thank you all for the continuously encouraging comments! You are the best readers ever! I hope you enjoy!***

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><p>"Help me. Please help me," whimpered Emma as Snow pushed the hair away from her face.<p>

Snow looked at her husband who was intent on getting Emma to the hospital as soon as possible. "Charming," she said.

He looked at her through his rear view mirror. Tears were brimming in her eyes and in his. He knew his wife couldn't take the torture of seeing their little girl in pain for very much longer. "Emma, you're going to be okay. Just keep breathing, okay? We're going to make sure you're okay. Just try to stay calm and breathe, sweetheart."

Snow knew that the last part was meant for both her and Emma. She really couldn't stand seeing Emma in this much pain. Emma was her strong little girl, and for Emma to admit to so much pain meant it must be agonizing.

Snow placed her hand on Emma's forehead. Her baby was burning up! How had she not noticed before? "Charming, she's burning up."

"Okay. okay... Umm," he reached for something next to him. "Use this. There's some water in the back seat. It should be cold from being in the cold car all night." He handed her a small towel that he usually took to the gym with him. It smelled slightly of his sweat, but Snow didn't care. Anything that could help to make Emma feel better was gladly welcomed at this point.

Snow took the towel and water bottle and poured the water over the towel, creating a temporary cold compress until they were to arrive at the hospital. Snow carefully dabbed at Emma's forehead with the compress, watching her expressions as she continued to fight the stabbing pain in her abdomen.

A few minutes later, Charming pulled into the hospital parking lot. He grabbed Emma from the back seat and carried her in his arms, followed by Snow, to the Emergency Room entrance. The room was packed with people. He and Snow ran to the front desk and explained what had happened. The nurse immediately called for a gurney for Emma to be taken to a bed. Charming and Snow followed her, Snow holding her hand and rubbing it soothingly.

The doctors carefully placed Emma on the bed and immediately began to check her vitals. Once they were done, they started Emma on an IV drip to administer some pain medication until they could run further tests to find out what was causing her such pain.

"We'll take her up for more tests as soon as we possibly can. She's been listed as a priority patient due to her pain level, so you shouldn't have to wait too long. We're going to do everything we possibly can to find out what's wrong with your daughter. We'll send some people to take her up to testing shortly."

"Thank you, Doctor," said Snow softly as she clung onto Charming.

"She's going to be okay, Snow. She'll be fine," he said softly to his wife. He was saying it for her mostly but also for himself. As much as he hated to admit it, he still had no idea what was wrong with his little girl, and that scared the living shit out of him.

Snow and Charming walked back into Emma's room. She was finally sleeping. Snow took a deep breath and hugged Charming. "Thank God. She really needed to rest," she said.

"She really did," said Charming, relieved that his daughter was out of pain for the moment.

Just then, the machines monitoring Emma's heart rate and bloop pressure began to beep and sound alarms.

Snow and Charming rushed to Emma's side, holding her hands and whispering words of encouragement to her as doctors ran into the room.

The doctors started to yell things at each other and asked Snow and Charming to move out of the way. They began to evaluate the situation. "Hang two units of O neg," said one doctor dressed in dark blue scrubs to a nurse. The nurse hung the blood and attached it to Emma's IV.

Snow and Charming could hardly watch.

"Okay, let's get her off this bed and onto a gurney. She needs scans. Move her on my count. One, two, three."

As the doctors lifted Emma off her bed and onto the adjacent gurney, everyone in the room noticed the pool of blood that had formed under her, seeping through her hospital gown and into the sheets of her bed.


End file.
